1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for training and/or analyzing the musculoskeletal system of a user, wherein the device comprises a stepping plate which is mounted on a base plate and can be made to periodically and/or aperiodically move by means of a driving mechanism, wherein the driving mechanism comprises at least one drive shaft on which at least one cam is disposed, and wherein at least one roll arranged to roll on an outer surface of the at least one cam is disposed on the bottom surface of the stepping plate.
2. Background Information
Such devices have been widely known and are used for training a user's musculoskeletal system, or for analyzing it in order to detect any abnormal motion processes. WO 2007/024103 describes a device comprising two stepping plates that can be made to periodically move by means of a driving mechanism. This is effected using a shaft which is driven by a driving mechanism and which comprises two cams each of which coacts with a roll mounted on the stepping plates, orthogonally to the cams. It is a disadvantage of the known device that the amplitude of the periodical movements cannot be varied.
Another disadvantage of the known device is seen in the fact that the projecting stepping plate on which force is applied performs a tilting movement in addition to a vertical movement. This provides the disadvantage to stress the user's joints. Especially, designs of that kind cannot be used for horses or other hoofed animals because they would heavily stress the joints of the horses as horses are not in a position to balance out the tilting movement produced by the stepping plate.
EP 0 929 284 describes a device where a periodical sinusoidal movement is applied to the soles of a user's feet alternatingly on the one and the other side. To this end, the device comprises a rocker which is supported on the base plate via a pivot axis. The bottom of the rocker is engaged by lifting devices that can be driven by a common speed-controlled electric motor via respective V-belt drives. Each of the lifting devices comprises a drive shaft which is stationarily supported on the bottom plate and which carries a driving pinion. Connecting rods have one of their ends eccentrically supported on the drive shaft while their other ends act on the bottom of the rocker. It is possible with the aid of such a drive mechanism to make the rocker perform an oscillating lifting and lowering movement about its pivot axis and to adjust the oscillating frequency at option, within a predefinable range, via a control unit.
Such a device is absolutely convenient for training or for analyzing the musculoskeletal system of a user of low weight, for example of a man standing on the rocker. However, when a heavier user, for example a sport horse or a racing camel, is to be trained and/or its musculoskeletal system is to be analyzed, the described mechanical structure of the driving mechanism usually is not sufficient to achieve the required operating safety, or else the components of the driving mechanism must be made so sturdy that a device of that kind, adapted for example to horses, will become extremely bulky.
While when used for men it is absolutely possible to operate the described device from the very beginning at the desired oscillating frequency, this is not possible in the case of horses or other animals, especially flight animals, as horses that are made to stand on such a device, operating at a more than negligible frequency, tend to show flight reactions because they are not accustomed to such a moving ground.